covering...
 

how many people actually put a outside shell on there robot to protecet there electornics this year (like lexan). and if you have why do you think its nessary..... if you havent why do you think you dont need them?

Re: covering...
 

We covered our robot with thin stamped aluminum panels.

With all of our electronics and pnuematics mounted on a board right on top of the chassis there's a good chance (actually better than a good chance :rolleyes: ) that a tetra or something could land on top of it. There's a lot of expensive and critical parts to the robot that could get damaged.

Plus the covers give us space to display our sponsors. ;)

Re: covering...
 

Our electronics are mounted DEEP inside our chassis, but we are still adding thin (1/16") lexan to ensure that nothing gets jammed inside. We felt it was necessary cause this year is going to have things moving everywhere. Tetras, robots, arms. Any could get stuck inside your robot. To us it just wasn't worth losing a match cause a tetra fell into our winch.

Re: covering...
 

On Ockham, all of the goods are tucked inside, nice and low and out of the way.

I would be more than shocked if anything happened to the electronics.

Re: covering...
 

We covered up all our sides with lexan. In the front we went with strong stuff and put in a 1/4" thick piece to protect our lift and electronics from a frontal hit that is higher then our bumper. In the back we went lighter but still strong with 1/8" thick lexan. On our sides which didn't have very big open spaces we put 1/16" piece for the sponsor's stuff.

Re: covering...
 

We made our box all out of lexan, then bolted that in, we were able to easily remove it (or more easily) than if it was straight on robot. Our pneumatics is out in the open, but is built on a lexan sheet and is covered by a thin sheet on the back, and our arm plate on the top, but still easily accessible. Reason being was I think we were constantly in fear of some other robot accidently running into ours and knocking us out, so it's really well protected

Re: covering...
 

The covering gives us a nice big surface to write our team number on :cool:

Re: covering...
 

We covered our robot with a good amount of lexan all around and we even made special plates to protect the solenoids mounted on the arm. They provide a great place to put sponsor/team stickers and have saved us many a time from stray robot arms last year.

Re: covering...
 

Our robot like most, has pneumatics and electronics near the chasis. We have it covered with 1/8" lexaine. We did this mostly to protect it form flying/dropping tetras. Also a flipped over robot or an arm can really damage your controller and put you out for couple of matches

Re: covering...
 

Our electronics are protected from falling tetras by a carbon fiber platform that has been tested...and it works. On one of the first attempts to lift a tetra, the carbon fiber was the only thing that stopped the tetra from destroying the electronics. We also have a hinged piece of lexan in the front for easy access to the battery and for more protection.

Re: covering...
 

We have a shell on our electronics becuase they were almost killed by a tetra in week 5. Also our electronics covers got scratched up pretty good last year. :yikes:

Re: covering...
 

Why wouldn't you protect the electronics with lexan? Plus, graphics and sponsor labels get space.

Re: covering...
 

MOE used lexan to cover the sides of our bot and electronics panels, the top part has perferated(sp ?) metal sheets and another side has a different kind of perf board on it.
With out those pieces on the bot for the past fews years we would be torn apart in our first match.

Re: covering...
 

One year, a robot ended up on top of our robot with their treads spinning on top of our controller box. Had we had exposed controller and wiring, our controls would have been toast.

This year, with all of the "pokey sticks" out there, it will be a miracle if no one loses wiring or electronics to an accidental poke.

Re: covering...
 

We have made sure to protect our robot to the maximum ever since our second year when we forgot our front panel in a scrimmage and a robot had some form of a hook (I was not in robotics yet) and ripped all of our electronics and pneumatics out, on to the field. This year we have all four sides of our robot protected and a nice big slanted sheet of 3/16 in Lexan covering the entire top with a cut out for our mast, and a hinged door for our battery and backup battery. Normally we only use 1/8 in Lexan for protection but this year we were way under weight so we used 1/4 in or 3/16 in everywhere. The reason this year's game requires the robots to be protected is because the tetras and hooks/manipulators from other robots can find there way into small opening and damage your robot.